Christmas in Ely
This year, in a complete break with tradition, or perhaps the start of a new one, I spent Christmas in Ely, seeing fengirl88, gwendraith and, on a brief trip to Cambridge, altariel and family.
One of the highlights of the trip was being able to visit Ely's magnificent Cathedral - seen here on a sunny Christmas Eve when we went to check the times for Midnight Mass.
And here is the very imposing Christmas tree which we found inside when we arrived for Midnight Mass.
Christmas Day was gloomier, but it stopped raining in the afternoon, long enough for us to take a walk round the far side of the Cathedral.
The daylight was fading as we returned up Fore Hill.
Back indoors - lights, tree, presents!
Including these very regal earrings from katlinel - and the Lewis chess set!
The weather seemed to be alternating day by day. Boxing Day was fine and sunny again, so we took a different route down to the river, and caught some different views of the Cathedral. (It's quite difficult to find a part of Ely from which you can't see the Cathedral, as it's a mostly flat place with a very big building in the middle. I like this view, with the towers stacked up behind each other.)
Unexpectedly, we found some Morris dancers down by the river. These are the Sutton Masque.
And these are the Coton Morris Men, who pointed out that the sun went in as soon as they had finished. Powerful magic.
Today I actually got home a little earlier than planned, as East Midlands appeared to have abolished the train on which I had booked a seat, because of a shortage of drivers. I managed to get on to the previous direct service, and to find a seat for the whole way (which is good, as it's more than three and a half hours). There is no sign of flooding anywhere near me.
Abby was initially very relieved to see me ("You're back? Are you definitely back? You're not going out anywhere else?"), then decided to disappear ("I was fine without you really!"), but has now decided it's high time for laptime, so she's on my knee as I'm typing. So things are almost normal, though there will be some family disruption in the next few days.
Happy Old Year, everyone!
Also posted on Dreamwidth, with
comments.
One of the highlights of the trip was being able to visit Ely's magnificent Cathedral - seen here on a sunny Christmas Eve when we went to check the times for Midnight Mass.
And here is the very imposing Christmas tree which we found inside when we arrived for Midnight Mass.
Christmas Day was gloomier, but it stopped raining in the afternoon, long enough for us to take a walk round the far side of the Cathedral.
The daylight was fading as we returned up Fore Hill.
Back indoors - lights, tree, presents!
Including these very regal earrings from katlinel - and the Lewis chess set!
The weather seemed to be alternating day by day. Boxing Day was fine and sunny again, so we took a different route down to the river, and caught some different views of the Cathedral. (It's quite difficult to find a part of Ely from which you can't see the Cathedral, as it's a mostly flat place with a very big building in the middle. I like this view, with the towers stacked up behind each other.)
Unexpectedly, we found some Morris dancers down by the river. These are the Sutton Masque.
And these are the Coton Morris Men, who pointed out that the sun went in as soon as they had finished. Powerful magic.
Today I actually got home a little earlier than planned, as East Midlands appeared to have abolished the train on which I had booked a seat, because of a shortage of drivers. I managed to get on to the previous direct service, and to find a seat for the whole way (which is good, as it's more than three and a half hours). There is no sign of flooding anywhere near me.
Abby was initially very relieved to see me ("You're back? Are you definitely back? You're not going out anywhere else?"), then decided to disappear ("I was fine without you really!"), but has now decided it's high time for laptime, so she's on my knee as I'm typing. So things are almost normal, though there will be some family disruption in the next few days.
Happy Old Year, everyone!
Also posted on Dreamwidth, with
comments.